Sunshine

"Hey, you okay?"

Evelyn hadn't even realized she was staring off into space until Zacky turned around in his desk and rested his forearms on her own desk. A button from his faded jean jacket sat at the top of her desk with a Metallica shirt sticking out from underneath. His new haircut made his face stand out to her and his green eyes were showing concern.

Evelyn looked away quickly to avoid staring further and nodded, "I'm fine. I just...spaced off a bit."

Time was flying by and it was now early September. Only a couple weeks were left until homecoming. Evelyn never cared much for dances back in Detroit, and the homecoming dance at Fountain Valley last year was a bore. Of course, that was before she started attending HBHS, so maybe their dance would be better. Evelyn had been constantly daydreaming scenarios of Zacky asking her to the dance for the past week, though she’d never let anyone, especially him, on to this fact.

Zacky didn't look like he believed her, but let the subject go. With one more long look, accompanied by a small smile, he turned back around in his desk and continued to listen to the lecture on English literature.

A few minutes later, the bell rang and Zacky and Evelyn made their way out of the classroom. She said goodbye to him once they reached his locker, resisting the urge to stall and make small talk about the homecoming dance, and continued outside to where Brian and Jimmy would be.

She hated relying on Brian for rides home all the time, but her Ma and Pa didn't like her driving and her car had been in the shop continuously anyway. Ever since she had told Brian about her mother, he seemed to be ignoring her and being even more rude to her. She didn't even want to be in the same room as him for fear of him snapping at her or something, even though he had yet to do such a thing. It was safer with Jimmy along because Brian usually behaved himself for the sake of his friend.

Evelyn huffed and hoisted her heavy bag up onto her shoulder. She was getting more and more annoyed with Brian every day.

She bumped into someone, who quickly excused themselves. Confused, she looked up...and up...to see Matt standing in front of her.

"Hey," she greeted, mustering a smile on her face.

She observed his Metallica shirt, similar to the one Zacky, and even Jimmy, were wearing. Meredith, who was standing beside him, was also wearing one.

"Am I missing something?" she asked, gesturing to the siblings' shirts.

Matt playfully smacked Evelyn on the arm, "It's Metallica Monday, duh!"

Evelyn tried to hide her flinch and fear from being hit, though the force wasn't even that hard and Matt was just joking around. She laughed nervously.

I really need to stop fearing the guy...

"Well thanks for giving me the memo," she said sarcastically.

Meredith smiled, "Well now you know. You can wear one next month!"

"Next month? I thought you said it was every Monday."

"Yeah, but one Monday a month," Matt answered.

"That makes no sense."

"Yes it does."

"No, Matt, it does not."

"Yes it does, Evelyn."

"No, it doesn't."

"It does too!"

"No."

"Yes!"

Meredith laughed, "You'd think you two were the siblings and not us."

Matt smiled sheepishly and ruffled Evelyn's hair. She scowled and swatted him away.

"How dare you mess up my Evie's beautiful hair!"

Jimmy leaped over to the group dramatically and slapped Matt's hands away. Matt frowned.

"Where the fuck did you even come from?"

Jimmy pointed behind him, "Bri's car."

Evelyn turned around, meeting the gaze of Brian. She smiled politely, though he didn't return the favor.

"Ignore him," Jimmy said, turning Evelyn's head away from Brian and attempting to fix her long hair the way he wanted it to look.

She laughed and gently pushed his hands away. Meredith ran off, probably to get a head start home so she could walk by a certain someone's house, and Matt watched Jimmy curiously.

"What's Brian's problem?"

Jimmy shrugged, a sad look on his face, "He doesn't like Evie, for whatever reason."

Evelyn said nothing, suddenly finding interest in the ground. Matt noticed her change in mood and changed the subject.

"So he's nothing like Zack, then?"

Evelyn's head shot up and Jimmy laughed, giving Matt a high five.

"Exactly."

She simply stared at the two of them, ignoring the hopeful thoughts rushing through her mind and crossed her arms, beginning to walk away. Still laughing, Jimmy pulled her back by the shoulders and forced her to turn around. Matt smiled, his dimples showing.

"Don't worry, Evelyn, I won't tell."

She smiled weakly at Matt, attempting to hide how she really felt, and looked up at Jimmy, "Can we go home now?"

Matt, sensing the conversation was ending, waved goodbye and went off to go find his sister, who had probably already sprinted halfway home. He could be heard mumbling as he left.

"I swear if she went off to go talk to that stupid Johnny kid again..."

"Sure you're okay riding with Brian...again?"

At the mention of his name, Brian looked up and uncrossed his arms. He looked around to make sure mostly everyone had left, which they had, before yelling out to the two.

"Hey! I don't have all day over here!"

Evelyn, clearly not in the mood, sent him a dirty look. Jimmy crouched down in front of her with his back to her and she tried not to laugh.

"Giving me a piggyback ride isn't going to put me in a better mood, Jimmy."

"Yes it will! Now get on!"

She slowly hopped on her taller friend's back, sighing in the process. As he stood up, she giggled and held on tighter. She was such a sucker for piggyback rides; her father had always given them to her as a child.

"See, Evie? I told you it would!"

She smiled, grateful to have a friend like Jimmy despite his crazy tendencies. Sleeping in the laundromat that he worked in rather than sleep in his own bed in his own home was an example of one.

Brian watched on with a frown. Honestly he was kind of...jealous. He didn't have any friends of the female variety, (unless Val counted as an acquaintance), and here Jimmy was with a decent looking (despite what she might think of herself at times) girl as one of his best friends. He hadn't ever been as close to a girlfriend (not that he’d had many) as Jimmy and Evelyn were as just friends.

He often wondered why he didn't just try to also be friends with Evelyn, but for some reason there was something about her that irked him. Maybe it was her lack of self confidence around anyone but family, or her normally quiet nature, or the fact that she usually hid her problems instead of talk about them and solve them...

...or maybe it was that awkward feeling he got whenever she was around and being nice to him.

A smiling and laughing Jimmy and Evelyn neared the car, and Brian reminded himself to be civil. He nodded and smiled at Jimmy in greeting as the taller boy got in the car. While Jimmy was preoccupied with getting himself situated, Brian took a deep breath and looked at Evelyn, who was waiting for him to open the door so she could get in.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly.

Evelyn looked at him, confusion written all over her face, "What?"

He shook his head and opened the door, "Nothing."

Evelyn gave him a strange look as she got in the car, unintentionally sticking out her short-clad backside in the process. Brian tried not to stare.

He failed miserably.

"Brian, sometimes even I don't understand you," Jimmy commented, shaking his head.

Brian snapped his head away before Evelyn could catch him and sighed, smiling slightly at Jimmy.

"Sometimes even I don't understand myself."

The ride home was relatively silent, the only sound being wind escaping through the cracked windows. Evelyn let her hair flow wildly with the gust driving into the backseat from Brian’s window as he lowered it all the way and stuck his arm out, resting it on the door.

Evelyn closed her eyes and rested her head against the seat, letting out a sigh of contentment. The weather was beautiful, and the lack of speaking on Brian’s part was already putting her in a better mood. Soon, her thoughts began to drift to Zacky, and she found herself smiling.

“What ‘cha smiling about?”

She opened her eyes and jumped, not realizing that Jimmy had made his way into the backseat. Well, the top half of him, anyway. He was still buckled in the front seat, but had craned himself around to creep on his friend, smiling deviously at her.

She pulled a straight face, “I’m not smiling.”

She caught Brian glancing at her through the rear view mirror. He had a blank look on his face, but once she gave him a small, closed mouthed smile, he found himself mirroring her.

Jimmy’s eyes shot between the two, the mischievous look on his face from before.

“But you just smiled at Brian.”

Evelyn’s head shot to him and Brian smirked at Jimmy, who smirked right back.

“I was trying to be civil.”

“Mhm. Sure,” Jimmy scoffed, unconvinced.

After he turned back around in his seat, Evelyn crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at his back childishly. She didn’t think anyone noticed until she heard Brian chuckling from the front seat.

Jimmy and Evelyn both turned to him. He cast a confused glance over at his lanky best friend.

“What?”

“Nothing,” was the careless reply.

No more conversation was made until moments later when the car pulled up into the Kuper’s driveway. Evelyn tried not to act surprised that Brian was, once again, not being a dick and dropping her off in the street.

“Oh, Evie! I forgot to tell you something!” Jimmy yelled, just as Evelyn got out of the car, Brian standing beside her and the open driver’s door.

She turned around, nearly hitting Brian with her large book bag, “Yeah?”

“We’re having movie night at Matt’s. You’re coming.”

“I am?”

Brian slipped back into his car, pushing the driver’s seat back into place and slamming the door behind him. He turned to Evelyn and waved her off with his hand.

“Come over to my place at six. I’ll take you and Jimmy over there.”

Evelyn, shocked that Brian was speaking to her as though he wasn’t bothered by the thought of chauffeuring her around, was driven to silence. She nodded absentmindedly.

“See you tonight, Evie!”

Jimmy waved from the passenger side as Brian backed out of her driveway and maneuvered into his own across the street.

Evelyn sighed and walked up the concrete steps and let herself in the door. She was immediately greeted by Maudie.

“How was your day, Scout?”

Evelyn set down her bag near the closest wooden end table and shrugged, “Fine, Ma. Apparently I’ve got plans tonight.”

Maudie raised a brow, “Who with?”

“The crew,” she responded, taking off her shoes and wandering into the living room, greeting her Pa, who was currently watching Cops.

Maudie followed her in, “Where at?”

“Matt’s house.”

“Who’s taking you?”

“Brian.”

Maudie smiled and clapped her hands together, “I always knew you two would finally start getting along! You two would be so cute together-”

“Maudie! You’re embarrassing the poor girl!” Nik scolded.

Evelyn’s face held a horrified expression and her face flushed red, “I’m--uh--just gonna head upstairs now.”

She quickly scurried from the room, followed by Maudie’s chuckle.

“You know I’m right, Scout! Grandmothers know these kinds of things!”

Evelyn tried not to let herself think about Brian as she wandered upstairs, but she couldn’t help it. She had been trying not to think of him in a romantic way, since he was always being a jerk, but now that her Ma mentioned, some kind of strange feeling was surfacing…

Evelyn huffed and shook the thoughts from her head.

She had a party to get ready for.